Brights Lights, Big City
Trip Start
Jan 02, 2009
1
15
32
Trip End
Dec 11, 2009
Tokyo,
Kanto,
Japan
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
On our first day, we took the subway to Shinjuku, which is the busiest train station in the world, and visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices. Its two adjoining buildings are the tallest in the city. The 42nd level of each building is an observation floor with a 360 degree view over the city. Tokyo is the largest city in the world and we got an idea of just how vast it is. The city sprawled out below us in all directions without an end in sight. On a clear day, Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance, but unfortunately it was too hazy on the day we visited. Tokyo is not the most of attractive of cities as it suffered a huge earthquake that practically leveled the city in the 1920's and it was also heavily bombed during World War II. It made us realise just how fortunate we are in London to have so many beautiful buildings of historical significance that are still in tact. The buildings in Tokyo can be described, at best, as 'functional' (and at worst as 'shite'). During our travels around the city on numerous trains, we passed an endless expanse of stark apartment blocks and tangled webs of overhead cables.
However, in the evenings, Tokyo becomes a sea of bright neon lights and swarms with people. What the Japanese lack in architectural design, they make up for in personal style. Even their dogs are better dressed than the people of most other nations. The city teems with achingly hip young things and impossibly glamorous women tottering the streets in gravity defying heels. Somehow, the boys can get away with wearing the most ridiculous outfits and still look really cool. One middle aged gentleman we came across was carrying a briefcase and dressed very conventionally from the waist up, with a smart shirt and tie. Below the waist, however, he was wearing a tight cut-off denim mini skirt, bare legs and cowboy boots - if only we had had the camera to hand! In the red light district of Kabukicho, we came across an army of young men all hanging around trying to get people into 'bars', who were all wearing a uniform of bouffant hair, skin tight black jeans or black suits and very pointy cowboy boots. They looked as if they had just left a very windy Bon Jovi concert circa 1985.
The Japanese people are incredibly polite and helpful. Within seconds of us stopping to look at a map or getting the guidebook out, someone would appear from nowhere and would try to help us. (Or maybe it was because we looked particularly pathetic and helpless!) If they couldn't explain in English where we needed to go, they would show us the way, which often meant that they would have to walk in the opposite direction to where they had been headed. We found this to be particularly useful as the street maps located at strategic points around the city randomly vary the direction of North. So rather than being at 12 o'clock, it would be at 3pm or 7am or 10.26. This has the same effect as spinning you around with a blindfold on, and is particularly tricky after a few beers.
After travelling around South East Asia for several months, most things in Tokyo seemed astronomically expensive, not helped by the current poor exchange rate which made things around a third more expensive than they were 2 years ago. However, we found that we could eat relatively cheaply if we went to stand-up bars or sushi counters rather than to sit down restaurants. As we both really love sushi, we were more than happy to eat this way and everything we ordered was always really fresh and delicious, especially the octopus balls! No matter where we were - a coffee shop, stand-up sushi counter or a nice restaurant, the service was always outstanding. They truly are lovely people and are very endearing.
After the first couple of days, we managed to figure out the subway system. It was very frustrating at first, as we couldn't figure out why the barriers kept refusing to let us exit. We later realised that the tickets only allow you to travel on certain lines. If you change lines, you need to buy a different ticket. The stations themselves are so huge with so many different exits and entrances, that we often got lost in them. (Obviously, Dean remained calm throughout as he relishes crowds and loves getting lost).
Tokyo has so many museums and art galleries that you would need to spend at least a month here to see them all. We decided to visit just one - the Tokyo National Museum which is the largest museum in Japan and houses the world's largest collection of Japanese art. It has four separate galleries, one of which houses a fantastic collection of Buddhist art, some which dates back as far as the 7th Century.
We also visited the Sensi-ji Temple which is a Buddhist temple that has had to be rebuilt several times, the last time in 1950, and also the Meiji-Jingu Shrine which was built in 1920 in memory of the previous Emperor and Empress. As with most things in Tokyo, it was destroyed during World War II and had to be rebuilt in 1958. It is set in lovely woodlands and has a beautiful iris garden. We were fortunate enough to be there at the right time as the irises only bloom in June.
We had booked tickets for Fatboy Slim's "Big Beach Festival" in Yokohama which is around an hour away from where we staying in Tokyo. On the day, the trip would have involved taking four separate trains, so we decided it would be easier to stay in Yokohama for the weekend. We booked a room on the internet in what we thought was a backpackers' hostel. When we arrived, we discovered that not only was it a hostel for what appeared to be homeless people (that includes us then), it was also located under a flyover in a dingy part of town. The place looked and felt like a prison. Now we have stayed in some small rooms during our travels, but this one took the biscuit. Dean could comfortably touch both walls at the same time. The bed consisted of two mats that had to be strategically rolled out at night. Not an easy feat when the mats were actually bigger than the room itself. Luckily for us, the hostel had only just opened and apart from a few dejected looking old men shuffling around the place, there was hardly anyone else there. Everything was brand spanking new and this being Japan, the place was so immaculate and spotlessly clean that you would happily eat your breakfast off the floor. We came home one evening and found that the entire building had been cordoned off with four policemen standing outside. There was also a pool of blood on the pavement. As we couldn't find any pictures of stabbings and shootings in "Point-It", we thought better of attempting to ask them what had happened.
Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan. It is so close to Tokyo that both cities have over time more or less merged into each other. Unfortunately, the day we arrived coincided with the start of the rainy season and it absolutely chucked it down for the entire day. Yokohama is not the most exciting of places and the grey skies and constant rain did not help matters. We couldn't even take refuge in the comfort of our room, it not being big enough to swing a Tamagotchi in. We were so bored that we ended up entertaining ourselves by re-enacting the infamous photos from Guantanamo Bay in the prison, sorry, hostel corridor.
Thankfully, on the day of the concert, the rain held off for the entire day. It seems that the Japanese love to party and as soon as we arrived, the festival was in full swing with people dancing around all over the place. Although we both had a really good day, we left thinking that DJ-ing has to be the easiest job in the world, and that we could have done a better job ourselves with selecting the tunes!
The next day was a beautiful sunny day, so we decided not to waste it in Yokohama, but to take the train back to Tokyo. We spent the day wandering around Harajuku and the park at Yoyogi-koen, where we stumbled across a skateboarding dog, various musicians and jugglers, a group of bopping rockabillies and various people parading around in weird and wonderful outfits. No-one could ever accuse the Japanese of being dull.
